Ryanair boss wants to get rid of seatbelts, seats on planes

Jordan Chittley

Daily BuzzNovember 8, 2012

Michael O'Leary is hoping to change legislation to create a "standing room only" class and sell tickets for one pound

The last time I flew, we had a pretty bumpy landing. People were clutching their armrests and loved ones and I was pretty happy to be wearing a seatbelt for some sort of safety. I was wearing the seatbelt because I wanted to and they are mandatory on planes, but the chief executive of Irish budget airline Ryanair, says they are useless.

"If there was a crash on an aircraft, God forbid, a seatbelt won't save you," said Michael O'Leary in aTelegraph article. "Seatbelts don't matter...You don't need a seatbelt on the London Underground. You don't need a seatbelt on trains which are travelling at 120 mph and if they crash you're all dead."

He is talking about this because he is trying to create "standing room only" cabins for students and anyone else looking to fly for less money. Some tickets to European destinations will be one pound or $1.59 Canadian.

"If you say to passengers it's £25 for the seat and £1 for the standing cabin, I guarantee we will sell the standing cabin first," he said to the Telegraph. "No question."

He thinks this can be done because where they are flying aren't areas of huge turbulence.

He thinks most people will be attracted to the low fares because the point to flying is to get from point A to point B, and then you can spend your money on a nice hotel or food when you get to the destination.

Ryanair has been in the headlines a lot lately, mostly because of O'Leary's ideas and strict enforcement to save passengers money and cut costs. He has previously suggested charging passengers to use the washrooms and proclaimed many of his customers want to tax fat people.

Just last week a woman was removed from a Ryanair flight by two police officers for trying to board the plane with a book in her hand. She was apparently breaking the luggage rules because the book wouldn't fit into her carry on bag.

While flights may seem cheap, passengers must pay for things like checking bags and printing boarding passes, which will cost you $76 per pass. The airline is also thinking about charging people to carry on bags.

O'Leary has a lot of work to do to change the safety rules on planes, but he does make a good point. That Air Canada flight I was talking about earlier cost more than $300 one way plus $25 to check a bag. When the main goal is to get to your destination, a flight for less than two bucks sounds pretty good.

(Reuters photo)

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